Trip Recap: Harpers Ferry Lower Town Trail Hike

It was a beautiful late summer day and my wife and I were looking for a reason to get out of the house so we decided to take a hike in Harper's Ferry.

We parked at the Harpers Ferry Visitor Center (171 Shoreline Drive, Harpers Ferry, WV) and picked up the Lower Town Trail just off the parking lot.

Note - there is an entrance fee for the Visitor Center.

• Parking and shuttle are covered with the park entrance fee: $20 per vehicle for up to 3 days, $15 for motorcycles, or $10 per person.
• Metered parking costs about $3/hour during daytimes (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.).
• Annual NPS passes are accepted, and passes can be purchased online or in person.

By starting at the Visitor Center Parking Lot, the entire hike is downhill. The elevation at the start is 499' descending 214' in the first 1/3 of a mile of the hike

As you make your way down the trail you descend rock steps that lead to a cool little waterfall. As you keep descending, the trail then meets the road that runs to Harpers Ferry - Shoreline Drive - and you walk along the path that is between the road on your left and the Potomac Canal on your right. We took a bit of a detour down to the shore of the Shenandoah River, which is a nice spot to get up close and personal with the river to take pictures, or, if walking with kids, let them play around in the river.

There are a couple options as you continue toward town, either continue on the Visitor Center Trail or Take the Lower Town Trail which runs nearer the river. We went back to the Visitor Center Trail and ended up at the Pulp Mill Ruins (see photo below). There, we connected with the Virginius Island and Hall's Island Trail which led us past the Virginius Island Cotton / Flour Mill Ruins, the Jonathan Child House, across the railroad tracks, past the water tunnels, back down to the river (hard to resist a river) and into town on the Hamilton Street Trail.

We walked through town, looking in the shop windows and made our way to the train station where we watched an Amtrak train cross the Potomac and make its way to Washington, DC after stopping at the Harpers Ferry train station.

The hike in total ended up being just under 2 miles (probably a bit more than 2 with all of the off trail exploring we did). Our timing was perfect for having lunch at one of the local restaurants and then hopping on a bus that took us back to our car at the visitor center.

As you can see in the video below, Harpers Ferry offers a lot to explore and take in. We barely scratched the surface.

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